Ray Ison, Professor in Systems at the UK Open University since 1994, is a member of the Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group. From 2008-15 he also developed and ran the Systemic Governance Research Program at Monash University, Melbourne. In this blog he reflects on contemporary issues from a systemic perspective.

Monday, October 15, 2012

They 'make three key statements to enhance
understanding and communication about ethanol production's impact on the
food and fuel markets: (1) The amount of corn used to produce the
ethanol in a gallon of regular gas would feed a person
for a day, (2) The production of ethanol requires so much fossil fuel
energy that its energy benefit is only about 20%, and (3) The cost of
gas made with ethanol is actually higher per mile because ethanol
reduces gasoline's energy per gallon.'